Nixon Park
Abrasive Blasting, Coatings and Waterproofing

Auckland Council

LOCATION

Kingsland, Auckland

SERVICE

Sand and soda blasting

The Challenge

The below-ground structure at Nixon Park was failing because aged coatings on the block walls and concrete had broken down over time, allowing moisture to penetrate where it should have been kept out. Addressing the problem meant removing the failed coatings back to a sound substrate before any new waterproofing or drainage could be relied on to keep the structure dry.

Our Approach

BlastOff sandblasted all of the existing coatings from the block walls and concrete, taking the surfaces back to a sound substrate suited to a new waterproofing system. A complete waterproofing system was then applied to every block wall, and the below-ground structure was tanked, with NOVAFLO drainage coil installed to carry groundwater away from the structure. Combining the blasting, waterproofing and drainage stages under one scope meant the substrate condition, membrane and drainage were coordinated rather than treated as separate jobs.

The Outcome

The below-ground structure at Nixon Park moved from failed, moisture-affected coatings to a sandblasted substrate protected by a complete waterproofing system and NOVAFLO drainage. Preparation, waterproofing and drainage were delivered as one accountable scope, addressing the below-ground moisture issues the park had been experiencing.

Fixing the Cause, Not the Symptom: Below-Ground Waterproofing and Drainage at Nixon Park

Below ground at Nixon Park in Kingsland, the coatings that were supposed to be keeping moisture out of the block walls and concrete had broken down, and once that barrier fails, water finds its way into a structure that was never designed to manage it directly. There was no point applying new waterproofing over coatings that had already let go, so the first job was stripping the walls and concrete back to a sound, uncontaminated substrate.

BlastOff sandblasted all of the failed coatings from the block walls and concrete, taking the below-ground surfaces back to a condition a new waterproofing system could actually bond to and rely on. A complete waterproofing system was then applied to every block wall, and the structure itself was tanked, with NOVAFLO drainage coil installed to carry groundwater away from the structure rather than leaving it to find its own path back in. Running the blasting, waterproofing and drainage under one scope meant the substrate condition, the membrane and the drainage design were all coordinated by the same team, instead of three separate contractors handing off a problem none of them had full visibility of.

The below-ground structure moved from failed, moisture-affected coatings to a sandblasted substrate protected by a complete waterproofing system and NOVAFLO drainage, addressing the moisture issues the park had been experiencing as one accountable piece of work.

Councils and facility owners dealing with similar below-ground moisture problems, retaining structures, plant rooms, basements, should treat coating failure as a symptom rather than the whole problem. A proper scoping conversation needs to establish why the original coating failed, whether abrasive blasting can bring the substrate back to a workable condition, and whether drainage needs addressing alongside any new protective coating work, not after it.